Kane Dragonwood
"Brother, don't touch that cup. Don't you do it. Dont touch the goddamn cu-" - Kane, shortly before the teleportation of himself and his brother Julius to Fiends Reach. '' ''"It...Finally...Bowed...." - Unknown. History Unlike his brothers, Kane was born into the Dragonwood Clan with no natural affinity for martial combat. The Dragonwoods hailed from a long and proud lineage of fighters, And lived in a city bearing a war god's name. Kane's distaste and comparative lack of talent brought his family, especially his father Asher, no shortage of frustration. Kane spent his time as a child hiding away from his family as much as he could, reading tales of old heroes and magics in the grand library of his city, while his brothers and sisters trained in the art of war. While Kane knew his family would always love him, the fact he could never earn the respect of his elders respect ate away at him. Eventually it lit a fire under the young man. In secret, Kane hatched a plan. His family only seemed to respect one type of magic: Transmutation. It was never spoken of, but Kane knew several of his family members used magic to increase their martial prowess. Their belts and fittings holding secret enchantments that only a keen eye could notice. So he decided to learn the practice for himself. Unfortunately for Kane, not even the restricted section of the library could give him what he needed. The art of Strength transmutation had been secreted away in his homeland, held under a tight monopoly. Only the dwarves of Stonehaven, a settlement far to the north of his home city, knew the secrets he sought. Lacking the time and resources to make the pilgrimage himself, Kane tried something desperate. Something far more reckless than he realized at the time. In the dead of night, using chalk and candles he had stolen from about the house, Kane tried to draw a rudimentary circle of teleportation. Just like the ones the heroes in his books had used to traverse the world. It was a large shoddy rune, drawn by candlelight in the dead of night. But it did harbor the vestiges of magic. To a trained eye, It was a clear deathtrap. Just as likely to send you to the moon as your desired destination. But to the naive child, It was a path to redemption. Whispering the final words of the incantation Kane had tried to recite from memory, the rune set ablaze and the child disappeared in a puff of acrid blue smoke. Kane landed with a dull thud on a dimly lit workshop floor. He felt a searing pain shoot through his body as he did, and succumbed to unconsciousness seconds after. Were it not for the keen ears of Tarkus Thorin, the workshop's owner, Kane may very well have bleed to death on that floor that night. All of the young wizard had not found its destination. Most of his left hand and forearm were unrecognizable, with entire parts missing in chunks of geometric shapes. It took healers days to get the wounds to stop bleeding, and longer still for the child to awaken. When Kane finally came around, he saw himself surrounded by his family, and an unfamiliar dwarf. To prevent this from ever happening again, Tarkus had found and summoned the family to make Asher a proposition. He would take in the child as an apprentice to learn control and refinement of his magic, and in return Kane would owe the Thorin clan a masterpiece of transmutation in his lifetime. The human responded with doubt, fearing for his son's safety and vowing he would never be allowed to practice magic again. but Tarkus reassured the old warrior in terms he could finally understand. "Kane possessed power beyond that of any normal child. A lesser man would have had their mind and body absorbed into the fabric of magic. Only his force of will got him to the floor of my workshop. His inner strength and desire to learn. I have seen hundreds, maybe thousands of humans ask to study under my watch over the years. I can think of none more worthy than your son. " From that day on, until Kane disappeared into Fiends Reach, he had two wonderful and unexpected things enter his life. His fathers respect, and his new master's undivided, strict, attention. He went on to become Magister of Tortuga, bitches. Appearance Kane is a tall, rather lanky and bookish looking sort of wizard that can be found wearing his trademark stupid grin and childlike attitude. He also bears an cookie-cutter resemblance to both his brothers that have washed ashore, Grom and Julius. As all 3 have dirty, dark colored hair and brown eyes. Kane can always be found wearing flowing purple robes, an oversized ruby ring and clutching a normal wooden stave. Depending on the day you are also likely to find him sporting any number of magical trinkets as well, such as boots, wands, rings, staves, guns and more. As a craftsman himself, the collection has grown too large to keep a consistent look. A keen eye could also notice the stiff, scarred left hand Kane usually keeps tucked beneath the folds of his robes. It still has a thumb, pointer and ring finger, as well as 7 or 8 scattered scars that appear down to the elbow, all in perfect geometric shapes. Personality Kane is still very young for somebody with his levels of arcane talent, and his personality is a constant reminder. Instead of the dense vocabulary some wizards use, Kane still refers to his magic as simple "buffs, nerfs and blasts". And he will never be above a boner joke, even as an old man, or on his deathbed. His last name makes convenient fodder for this. He likes to think he would fight and die for a cause, like the warriors in his family before him. But time has not yet tested Kane's mettle in such a way, and he worries that when it does, and his loved ones need him, his courage will run dry. Kane is the fun drunk. Julius is an asshole when he drinks. Friends Julius Dragonwood is Kane's twin, and the first Dragonwood to wash up in the reach alongside Kane himself. Together they helped the Saltborn break free from the city of Fiends Reach; fight countless evils, and make a new home for the rest of their family that followed in behind them. Thundag Rawcrag became Thundag Dragonwood after a long series of saving both him and his brother's ass in battle. They were happy to welcome him into the family formally; and continue to work together closely today. The most recent exploit they have completed together was the grave injury of the Moon and the destruction of a large meteor destined for the Reach. Queen Magoza became Kane's friend shortly after he landed, and a prank landed him in his pajamas aboard her ship T''he Tortuga''. He chose to stay aboard to help. And chose to stay to help build a city once the ship found land in an untamed jungle. Eventually he fell for the Captain; and, (After a brief 9-month interruption in their engagement when the nameless god stole away Kane's soul), they were wed! They're still madly in love; ruling Tortuga together to this day. Ashlynn has been of Kane's close friends and mentors for the entirety of his life in the reach; helping guide him from a commonplace wizard into something more significant. With her help; Kane has been able to accomplish great things; such as bringing the light of his former god to a strange new realm; Summoning a Herald of Sarenrae, and overall learning how to overcome his fears. (he had plenty.) Kane remains fond of using creation spells to make Ashlynn immaculate articles of clothing with his skills as a magical craftsman. Ciel Chevalier - After an incident involving some radical experiments to change the alignment of outsiders; Minori had unintentionally alienated and frightened a potential new apprentice; Ciel. Kane was present at Saito academy for the very same demonstration. He met up afterwards, offering some time to talk things over, and explain Minori wasn't a monster, just...ambitious. And One thing lead to another, and Kane was soon taking the role of a personal mentor to Ciel. Though with the loss of his memory, and her 9 months of training during his death, Ciel's spellcasting has now far surpassed his own. Kane couldn't be more proud. Minori Saito - Though they are often at odds over magical matters; especially the treatment of outsiders; Kane works alongside Minori on missions of all sorts; especially those involving the Scarecrow. They accomplish amazing things when the disagreements are shoved aside. Kane even managed to redeem one Inari Saito; the long fallen mother of Minori who was warped into a servant of the nameless god during their campaigns. Though he would never admit it openly, Kane truly did miss his magical counterpart dearly during his soul imprisonment. And he couldn't have been more excited to meet the newborn kids upon his return. In the sanctum Kane saw something blood-chilling. The altar had been shattered, and in its place stood a hanging stand. From the stand dangled a decomposed corpse, that fixed him with an impossibly cold gaze.The bodies of Kane's clerics and priests littered the sanctuary, torn limb from limb. The walls were decorated with blasphemous sigils, thinning the borders between worlds, while preventing escape. "....it persisted...." Kane pat his pockets before realizing his magical gear was locked upstairs for the wedding ceremony that was to take place that day. He didn't have a component pouch or focus on his person. The color drained from his face as he did so... "Death... always... wins." Shadows appeared at the corners of the sanctuary, and swarmed Kane. They drove him down to his knees, and forced him to look up at the Scarecrow. The room darkened, and the temperature continued its steady drop until Kane could see his breath. "You... took... the Saito from me.... you will replace... it." One of the shadows stood above Kane and brandished a pick. The blade gleamed in what little light was left. "Last... words...." Kane shook and shivered so much he could barely talk, the room growing too cold for his thin body to withstand anymore "M-Magoza....Brothers....A-Astaire......I'm s-sorry. F-finish what we s-started here. Carry the l-light...." His brother Thundag arrived to late. The blade arced down. Kane doesn't die as quickly as he might have liked. His vision swam with a phantasmagoric display, death and shadows circling his dying mind as the steel of the pick ripped through the part of his brain responsible for memory. He heard the crack of his skull splitting to accommodate the instrument of his demise as a far off thing, almost like it happened to someone else. A river of blood and brain matter fell from the new hole in Kane's head as the shadow ripped it free. Blood ran from his mouth as his soft palate has also been pieced by the blow, allowing the flow to enter his sinuses. He died with the sound of his lungs struggling to heave their last breath as they filled with the gore running down his throat.The shadow lifted Kane up, and in a simple movement affixed him to the hanging stand in place of the Scarecrow. Kane's dead eyes gazed into Thundag's as his body started to rot before his eyes. "Death....death always wins..." Kane's voice, filtered through the sounds of ripping flesh and wind echoing in empty, forgotten places, spoke in Thundag's mind. Stolen by the Nameless God. Thundag attempted to attack the shadowy figures; but his blade passed through the shadow like it would smoke, but it easily bit through the wood of the stand. Kane's body rot on the floor of the Temple to little more than a mummified reminder of the man he used to be. The shadow stood there enduring Thundag's attempts to destroy it. "You can't kill what has no name." The malevolent presence departed the temple, and took Kane's spirit with it. Category:Character